A Chink In The Hero's Armour
by Izumine Kisamine
Summary: Sometimes the people you idolize aren't all what they seem...


_**~Dedicated to my Canada~**_

_**~X~X~X~X~X~X~**_

"Matt! Hey, Mattie?" Matthew tried his best to ignore the loud whispers coming from the edge of his desk. Instead, he tried to focus on something else; the homemade lunch sat in front of him. All his favourite foods sitting in a small purple box that had waited patiently all morning to be eaten.

"Matt?" The whisper turned into a whine, and Matthew couldn't help but respond.

"What?" The honey blonde teen turned to see two hands clutching to the edge of the desk and a pair of stunning blue eyes gazing up at him. Matthew sighed; 'Of course it was him.' He thought.

"Oh, Al. What is it?"

Relieved that he had finally been noticed, Al sprang up from the floor and perched himself on the back of the chair belonging to the desk in front of Matthew's.

"Do I need a reason?" he grinned, running a hand through his cow licked, sandy blonde hair, all the while eyeing up his friend's boxed lunch.

Matthew rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "No, of course not."

"Thought so!" Alfred looked as if he was about to continue when his expression dropped. "Uh, look. Meet me later!" And with that, the blonde bolted from the room, but not before grabbing a pancake from Matthew's lunch.

"I always do!" Matt shouted after his friend, who yelled his reply from the corridor;

"But it's important!"

The honey blonde student laughed softly. Six years and he still didn't understand that guy.

Later that day, while he was waiting for Alfred, Matthew started thinking. He was thinking about how plain he was; small frame, pale complexion, thin wire-framed glasses, limp honey hair that hung just above his shoulder, boring pale blue eyes. He was plain and simple. Nobody ever really spoke to him until six years ago. He used to come to school, sit in class and do the work, read at lunch then g home and read some more.

But that all changed when he had met Al. Alfred F. Jones; captivating azure eyes, sandy blonde hair that never looked tidy no matter how long he spent on it, always wearing his beloved bomber jacket even in the middle of summer and always tried to see the bright side. He had a large circle of friends and was always working on some project or another. Matthew had admired him from afar for a while, but when Alfred had noticed him, he just went up to him and started to talk to him.

Well, at first it was more _at_ him, but when Matthew finally gathered up enough courage to speak back, the two found that they had each been intrigued by the other for a while. After that, the air grew closer and closer until they became inseparable.

"Mattie! Hey!" Alfred brought the soft spoken blonde back from his thoughts. The darker blonde was running across the now deserted courtyard, his battered brown messenger bag thumping hard against the back of his legs. The taller blonde waved over to Matthew, who couldn't help but wave back and let a small smile form on his lips.

When Alfred made it across the yard he all but collapsed next to his shorter friend. His breathe was all over the place, but he managed to say, "Remind me never to run. Ever."

"Perhaps if you laid off the burgers for a while?" Alfred rolled his eyes and chose not to respond to his older friend.

"So, what were you thinking about?" Alfred sighed, having just about caught his breathe.

"Thinking?"

"Yeah, you had that look on your face."

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "What look?"

"Just tell me what you were thinking." Al laughed.

The older teen sighed in defeat. The two began walking away from the school gates and Matthew came clean with his thoughts. "Well, I was just thinking about how… How different we are… And h-how much I look up to you. How awesome you are."

"You- you think so?" Alfred's voice and expression dropped as if someone had flipped a switch in his head.

"Yeah, of course. Your eyes, your hair, your jacket. The way you're so positive, all the friends you have and all the projects you've done. That's pretty awesome."

"I guess so." The taller blonde sighed as his gaze fell to the floor.

Mattie, suddenly concerned for his best friend, slowed his pace. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the younger teen began, his eyes still glued to the floor, "My eyes are just blue, nothing like yours; they seem to be made of a bajillion different colours. And my hair is always messy; I can never look presentable even when I try and I know people judge me for it. I'm only positive when I'm around other people and only because I don't want other people to feel sorry for me or concern themselves with my problems. And all those "friends"? The feeling isn't mutual. To be honest, most of them annoy the hell out of me." The pair carried on walking, and the more Alfred talked, the less Matthew felt he knew about his supposed best friend. "And all those projects?" I've only started them; I haven't finished anything in my life that isn't a video game! And as for my jacket-" He shrugged down the left sleeve of the brown leather coat to reveal a mess of angry scars criss-crossing across his tanned forearm. Matthew had no idea what to say. He had no idea; Alfred was always so happy, how was he to know?

"Anyways," The taller of the two piped up again, this time with a sparkling grin on his lips, "This is my stop!" He gestured to the house that now stood behind them both.

Matthew had no time to stop the other before he had reached the front door of the house. Then a thought occurred to him and he yelled after his friend. "Hey, what was it you wanted that was so important?"

Alfred snapped around. "Oh! Can I come round yours later? I need your help to revise for that test!"

"But that's tomorrow!"

"Exactly!"

…Some things never change…

_**~X~X~X~X~X~X~**_

_**Well there was a thing that is totally not based on any aspect of my own life… Nope~ I originally wrote this for my two OCs but then I thought the dynamic of Matthew and Alfred would be pretty cool~**_

_**But, as usual, thanks for taking the time to read my little story~ And, of course, reviews and stuff are always welcome here!**_

_**Also, here's something I haven't done in a while! **_

_**RANDOM TRIVIA; Did you know that the left side of my collar bone protrudes way more than the right side?**_

_**~IK~**_


End file.
